“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. Which Classes Are 50 and Over?

By Richard Crockett

While doing research into the Mistral Class which celebrates its 50th anniversary as a Class very soon, it struck me that there may well be several other classes, both dinghy and keelboat, may have achieved this status too.

So I am going to ask those who follow this Blog, to help me get the info required.

I am really only interested in those classes that are sailed in this country, and that still attain “reasonable” numbers at provincial and national events, and are sailed from more than just one Club. However, all info is appreciated whether it fits the criteria or not.

Classes that may fit this bill are, from my memory and therefore not yet researched and cannot be considered accurate, could be:

505
Bosun
Buccaneer
Dabchick
Enterprise
Extra
Finn
Fireball
Flying Dutchman
Flying Fifteen
GP14
Hobie 14 & 16
Mirror
Miura
Optimist
Royal Cape One Design
Soling
Sonnet
Sprog
Vivacity

Are there more?

Info on exactly when these classes were established in this country would be appreciated, as would any other historical material.

What concerns me while looking at the above list, is that our sailors are competing in some really old boats. But that’s not the debate here, and may be one for another day.

Looking forward to hearing from you – e-mails to: editor@sailing.co.za